- 125 delivered a decision denying a protection visa. On 14 December 1998, the Refugee Review Tribunal RRT) affirmed this decision. On 30 April 1999, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed the petitioner’s request for judicial review. 2.3 On 22 March 1999, the petitioner requested the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to intervene and set aside the decision of the RRT in the public interest, pursuant to section 417 of the Migration Act. In an undated letter, the Minister responded that he decided not to exercise this power. On 13 September 1999, counsel again wrote to the Minister requesting that the petitioner be permitted to submit a second application for a protection visa pursuant to section 48B of the Migration Act. Counsel has not received a response to this request. 2.4 The petitioner submits that he was involved in the social assistance activities of the Front islamique du salut (FIS) since 1990, i.e. after work, the petitioner sued to go to the local FIS office and assess what to give to families in need. In January 1992, after the results of the general election for the National Peoples’ Assembly were cancelled, the local FIS office was closed and the petitioner was called by the police (gendarmerie) and questioned for more than two hours. The petitioner submits that after his release, he was required to report to the gendarmerie on a daily basis and not to leave his hometown, Ngaos. On 16 September 1994, supported by a friend, he left Algeria for the Syrian Arab Republic by plane. The day after his departure, and again in October, the gendarmerie questioned his father about the residence of the alleged victim. It is further submitted that the petitioner’s father subsequently advised him not to return to Algeria because the police accused him of avoiding his military recall. 2.5 The petitioner submits that he left Algeria in 1994 after he heard of an official decree calling up reservists who had only served 18 months of military service for an extra six months. The petitioner had served in the National Republic Army from May 1988 to March 1990. The petitioner submits that in March 1994 it was reported that the Algerian Minister of the Interior announced the Government’s intention to draft thousands of army reservists and that these reports were not before the RRT when it reviewed the case. 2.6 The petitioner submits that, in 1996, he obtained a copy of a court verdict, dated 17 November 1996, convicting him of forming a terrorist group and, in absentia, sentencing him to death.a The complaint 3.1 The petitioner contends that his deportation to Algeria would violate article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The petitioner argues that there are substantive grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture when deported to Algeria, because he has been perceived as an FIS sympathiser. 3.2 The petitioner claims that, upon his return, he would be targeted as a draft-evader and anti-Government opinions would automatically be attributed to him for avoiding military service.